A Young Child’s Path to Success with Dyslexia!
In my last blog post, I shared Josie’s paper about how she used to struggle with learning to read, write and spell and how differently she learns now because of Silent Elephant “e”.
I shared how beautifully confident and self-assured she is in school and life today. What a change!
Josie’s revelation has made me so much more aware. I’m listening to my students for greater understanding. I’m listening more carefully.
Just last month one of my seven-year-olds told me the letters were jumping off the page when she was trying to read!
I stopped short! This put me in my careful listening mode.
In the past, before Josie’s paper, I may have just listened politely to this little girl without truly understanding what she was trying to explain to me.
She was really asking for help.
She was feeling comfortable enough to share what she thought other people would think was silly—after all, letters don’t jump off a page. But they do for her.
Now because of Josie’s brave sharing of her own journey, I wanted to know more. I knew I needed to know more.
I knew I had to ask questions; I had to ask the right questions. I had to truly understand as well as I could in order to guide her to becoming a successful reader, which I know she can be!
I began gently delving to help her share more of what she was seeing. I asked this little one questions such as:
· Do the letters jump up into your eyes? (“No.”)
· Do the letters jump onto empty, blank space on the paper? (“No,” she replied rather sadly. I could tell that she wished the letters did land in a blank space.)
· Do the letters land on top of other letters? (“Yes.”)
· Do the letters land on top of other words? (“Yes.”)
· What is it like to see letters jumping on top of other letters and other words? (“It’s very hard to tell exactly what letters or words I am supposed to look at. It’s very messy.”)
I could tell she was very frustrated with trying to read, but sharing her frustration with letters jumping around was helping her relax a little.
I suddenly remembered my dyslexic daughter telling me when she was little that tall letters slid across the lines to hook up to other words. She said tall letters from the next word would slide over to the word she was trying to read, so she would often add those sounds to the word she was reading. When she pronounced the word wrongly out loud, she realized it was incorrect because it was out of context. She would then struggle to correct it.
I have always sensed my daughter’s frustration and my struggling students’ frustration. I have always known of their pain and sense of helplessness.
But now, I can truly offer them hope, because I know Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e” is helping many children especially since Josie shared:
“Linda has taught my brain how to break down words, so when I’m focusing, I don’t see scrambled or jumbled words anymore.
I am able to read and see all of the phonics rules we learned by imagining the colors we used for each rule. If I have to read a tough word, my brain will picture the color parts that I need to read the word. I also remember the colored posters that I learned for the rules.”
Silent Elephant “e” is here to help. Silent Elephant “e” is the answer! This is such a good feeling, as there’s a path to success laid out ahead—it’s Silent Elephant “e”!
If you are questioning whether someone in your life is dyslexic and you’re not sure what to do, feel free to contact us.